Kashmir an integral part of Pakistan’s identity: PM Nawaz

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has emphatically stated that Kashmir is an integral part of Pakistan’s identity.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of a two-day international parliamentary seminar on Kashmir in Islamabad on Thursday.

He said our hearts beat and sink with our Kashmiri brethren. We share each moment of their pain and pleasures. We rejoice in their happiness and grieve in their gloom.

Speaking on the occasion, Adviser to the prime minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that Jammu and Kashmir dispute is a stigma on the international process. He said both Kashmir and Palestine are the two longest resolved items on the UNSC agenda.

The adviser said the denial of right of self determination to the Kashmiri people promised by the international community as well as by the founding leaders of India has compounded the sufferings of the Kashmiri people.

He pointed out that three successive generations in Kashmir are fighting for their right to self determination with zeal and commitment. This relentless struggle is continuing despite the hardest measures adopted by India.

He said the presence of a large number of Indian troops in the occupied valley is a clear manifestation of Indian policy to use state terrorism to suppress the just struggle of Kashmiri people.

The adviser said that July 8 which marks the extra judicial murder of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Wani has proven to be pivotal turning point for the Kashmiri people. Since then Indian have forces have used live ammunition and pellet guns with impunity leaving scores of innocent people dead and injured, mostly with pellet injuries.

He said the post July second intifada in occupied Kashmir is unprecedented one in the sense that elements within India are also describing it as homegrown.

He pointed out that Kashmiri youth are taking forward the freedom movement through the peaceful use of social media. A new generation from prosperous families is taking center stage at the movement.

Sartaj Aziz also called upon India to desist from steps that alter the demography of Kashmir. He said the dispute remains the core dispute between Pakistan and India. He said Pakistan is using every forum to raise the lingering dispute.

He said Pakistan will continue to extend steadfast support to Kashmiri people in their just struggle to right to self determination. Solution of the problem lies only in a fair and transparent plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.

He said International community and India must fulfill their promises made to the people of Kashmir.

Addressing the seminar, Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayyaz Sadiq has said the long lingering Kashmir dispute must be solved at the earliest to avert further instability in the whole region.

Ayyaz Sadiq said the unabated genocide of Kashmiris in the hands of Indian Occupied Forces over the last seven decades has led to decline in population from seventy nine to sixty eight percent currently.

He said on one hand the blatant human rights violations continue to mar the norms of democracy and on the other hand the issue is continuously spilling regional instability.

The Speaker said the proponents of human rights across the world failed to raise the voice of Kashmiris and stop India from its barbarity.

He said the participation of Prime Minister and other dignitaries is a reflection of Pakistan’s solidarity with the Kashmiri people and for their right to self determination.